odious liability provision repealed

Congress has attached a rider to one of its spending bills repealing the last-minute inclusion of a measure in the so-called Homeland Security bill shielding pharmaceutical companies from liability relating to a vaccine preservative called thimerosal.

I decried the midnight insertion of the liability provision in the so-called Homeland Security bill, and cited some questions about whether the GOP would follow through on its pledge to reconsider, so it's only right to give credit where due and applaud the removal of the provision.

As if it needed repeating, I have no objection to shielding vaccine manufacturers from liability for any ill effects of vaccinations required for homeland security. Indeed, the entire existence of the special vaccien court is predicated around the notion that some people will react adversely to vaccinations through no fault of the manufacturer. Perhaps thimerosal is indeed linked to autism; perhaps not--I don't think there's sufficient science to prove either case. Perhaps there is a case to be made that pharmaceutical companies should not bear liability should past injections of thimerosal indeed be linked to autism. But such a case should be made through public debate, not backroom dealing.